Pricing Increases

Maybe this is of interest more to the procurement departments and not DBAs,
but I find it intriguing to hear Oracle is increasing the performance pack
pricing from $3000 to $5000 per CPU especially in this economy:

Oracle Hikes Prices on Database Options
Oracle has apparently raised the cost of some management options for its
flagship database by 40 percent, according to an official price list dated
July 1.

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By Chris Kanaracus

July 16, 2009 — IDG News Service —

Oracle has apparently raised the cost of some management options for its
flagship database by 40 percent, according to an official price list dated
July 1.

Processor licenses for the company's diagnostic and tuning packs, as well as
a database configuration management pack, are now US$5,000, up from $3,500
listed on a 2008 price list.

The first two products are meant to help database administrators target and
resolve performance problems. The latter tool is used for a range of tasks,
such as tracking database configuration changes and ensuring policy
compliance.

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Meanwhile, a processor license for the enterprise edition of Oracle's
database remains priced at $47,500, following a roughly 20 percent increase
last year.

It wasn't clear Thursday whether other Oracle products also have seen price
hikes. A company spokeswoman could not immediately comment.

It is also not clear when the increases took place, but the lower prices
were in effect on a price sheet dated Dec. 1, 2008. Oracle posts its updated
price lists on the company's Web site, but does not typically announce when
changes are made.

Forrester Research analyst Ray Wang said Thursday his firm began examining
the most recent price lists for changes after a sudden swell of chatter from
sources in recent days.

Although list prices are rarely what customers actually pay for software,
the increases nonetheless raise the starting point for discount
negotiations, and could upset customers prepared to buy new licenses even in
the face of a global recession.

But there may also be another game afoot, according to Wang.

By raising list prices for licenses, vendors such as Oracle may simply be
catering to the needs of corporate IT procurement managers, who are under
pressure to get good deals for their employers and whose compensation can be
affected by the level of discount they garner from a vendor, he said.

When it comes time to negotiate, the vendor simply agrees to a steeper
discount on the now higher-priced product, creating a "win-win" situation
for both sides, Wang said.

This is a potential problem for IT organizations, Wang added. "If you just
focus on procurement, then you're not focused on the product adoption
strategy."